Melius Tarde, Quam Nunquam

Been really sloppy in updating the blog over the last seven or eight weeks because basically I''ve been too lazy to sit down in front of a computer and write some pish about the band.   Sometimes I can’t be bothered with this all morbid self attention, and sometimes I’m just too drunk, and the last thing I want to do is post a blog when I’m drunk.  Or is it? No, I’ve thought it through, and definitely not.

I don’t know why we had never played Dunfermline before. Its really close. Right across the bridge and you’re there. We gate crashed a gig that was originally supposed to be Esperanza and Root System, but then became a triple header with us on last. I had never been to Monty’s before, but I believe we’ll be back before the end of the year. Cracking wee place and an excellent wee sound system, and also a great visual set up for the backdrop of the stage. And a terrific crowd. We ended up at a party in Dunfermline because it would have been rude not to. A great night had by all. Although I heard that Kev from Root System had a wee whitey at the end of the night. Kids these days! Thanks to Ska -matics for putting us on and for giving us a cracking night.

Next gig was in Glas Vegas again supporting the formidable Skaville UK, featuring the legendary Rhoda Dakar, who amongst other things sang on ‘Free Nelson Mandela’. Everybody kept wanting to be photographed with Ms Dakar, and why not, thanks to her Nelson Mandela was freed. Well that’s how I see it, much in the same way that Spike Milligan helped bring down Hitler. Esperanza were first, then we played a short set without any covers for a change. Usually there’s our sneaky Toots or Frank Zappa covers, but not that night. We stuck to our own tunes and played a decent set for a change, thank God. Skaville UK were excellent again, and played lots of new tunes from their forthcoming album, as well as lots of their old tunes from their days in Bad Manners and The Selecter. I suppose they have to really. Honourable mention to our Tom for guesting on Do Rocksteady. Not a busy night unfortunately, but we were glad to be there, if only to meet the lovely Ms Dakar, aw shucks!

Aye, so the next gig is in Edinburgh, n that! Should be a belter, n that! Cannae wait, n that!

Meanwhile, back at the lab, progress continues on the bands long overdue album. All the little sound gremlins back at the evil professors lab (in Portobello, of course), have been working non stop round the clock sorting the EQ problems of the bass guitar, particularly around the 80Hz range. It’s a thorny issue, to compress or not to compress, that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous reverb... I can’t decide. Sometimes I think, what the fuck are we up to? Sometimes I think, maybe we should get somebody else to do it. Usually at this point someone reminds me of the horrendous cost if somebody else did it, at which point I’ll say, why don’t we just do it ourselves? Yeah, it’ll only take two years. That’s no time. Like a jail sentence for burglary.